palace

I live in a palace.

At least I think I do. My roommate and I moved in mid-December to a new apartment. We basically had one day where we could look for a place, and we found it. Home. We moved into a two bedroom, furnished apartment. We both knew the place we were living before was temporary, and so it was ok to go without a bed (we had foam mattresses on a tile floor), without any hot water, without a washing machine, without any real furniture to speak of. It was fine. And, then we moved into our palace.

Here is the tour. Our front door.

Our living room as you stand in our front door.
The other side of the living room.
The kitchen as seen from the long hallway that our bedrooms are off of. You can see our dining table and chairs and our cabinet for dishes.
Kitchen counter, gas stove, and DOUBLE sink (these are rare here!). (Also, you can kind of see the door open behind the window. There is a balcony all the way around, and a bathroom is located outside with the washing machine. We hang our clothes to dry on racks out there as well.)
The rest of the kitchen--"pantry," bottled water, refrigerator, and oven.
This is my bedroom.
And my bedroom from the other direction.
And my bathroom.
The rest of my bathroom with the plastic drawers.
The layout of Ruthie's bedroom and bathroom is a mirror image of mine.

And, this is the view from the front of our balcony.
I realize that for most of you reading this, it looks less than palatial. You may look at it and think that it looks bare or wonder at the fact that all the windows have bars. But, I realize every day how incredibly blessed I am as I come home to my palace.